Panelist Bio

Christine Berry, Ph.D.Director, ULM Insurance Studies Program

Dr. Christine Berry joined the University of Louisiana at Monroe in August 2001 and is currently an Associate Professor of Risk Management and Insurance and Director of the Insurance Studies program one of only 42 in the U.S. Dr. Berry served on the Louisiana Insurance Rating Commission from 2004 through its abolishment at the end of 2006. Her work calling for the LIRC’s abolishment was published in the CPCU eJournal.

From 2005 to 2010, Dr. Berry worked on various research projects for the Louisiana Department of Insurance including an extensive study of insurance premium tax revenues and the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Louisiana premium tax revenues. In 2007 she served on the Property and Casualty Insurance Commission and as the Chair of the Property Insurance Association of Louisiana which then administered the Louisiana Citizens Property Insurance Corporation. Her research findings on insurance taxation have been published in the NAIC’s Journal of Insurance Regulation.

Since 2010, Dr. Berry has been working with the Louisiana Small Business Development Center under a grant provided by the Small Business Administration to study the condition of risk management among small businesses in Louisiana and to provide training and education to small businesses across the state.

Prior to joining ULM, Dr. Berry was a Risk Management Consultant and later the Director of Education with Reinsurance Brokers E. W. Blanch and Benfield Group in Minneapolis, MN and Dallas, TX. Berry was also an Assistant Professor of Insurance at St. Cloud State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in finance from West Virginia University Berry and Ph.D. in Risk Management and Insurance from Florida State University. Berry also earned the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter, the Associate in Risk Management and the Associate in Reinsurance designations.